Anhydrous ammonia-treated whole-crop barley for beef steers

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Abstract
Whole-crop barley (cv. Midas) was harvested when the grain dry matter (DM) reached 640 g/kg and was treated with either anhydrous ammonia at 40 g/kg DM or propionic acid (30 g/kg DM) and stored in polythene-lined tower silos. Anhydrous ammonia and propionic acid preserved the early harvested barley whole crop but distribution of ammonia through the silos was not uniform. Coefficients of DM and starch losses from whole grains separated from the ammonia- or propionic acid-treated whole crops or from rolled barley grains and suspended in the rumen of steers in nylon bags weqe, after 42 h incubation 0.73,0.85,0.26,0.21 and 0.78,0.96 respectively. Coefficients of digestibility of the ammonia-treated (AWC), of the propionic acid-treated (PWC) whole crops and of a diet of rolled barley and ammonia-treated straw (RB) with the same grain to straw DM proportion as that in the whole crops were 0·62 (AWC), 0·55 (PWC) and 0K57 (RB). Daily live-weight gains (kg/day) of 350 kg Hereford × Friesian steers offered the diets for up to 100 days were 0·33 (AWC), ·0·61 (PWC) and 0·74 (RB) and DM feed intakes (kg/day) were 4·7,3·4 and 7·6 respectively.